Beverage Manufacturing

We're Bringing Sexy Beer and Food Pairings Back, This Friday at Phoenicia's MKT Bar

Craft Beer Hoppy Hour, our limited-run series of beer and food pairings at Phoenica's MKT Bar downtown, were so popular this winter that we've brought them back once again by popular demand. Our first round of Craft Beer Hoppy Hour kicks off this Friday, April 19 at 4 p.m. and runs through 7 p.m., ... More >>

World's Most Radical Natural Wine Now Available in Houston

Ever since the New York Times first reported on the radically Natural wines of Mt. Etna, Sicily producer Frank Cornelissen in 2009, the wines have captivated the attention of Natural wine writers, enthusiasts and detractors across the United States. To my knowledge, the wines have never been availa ... More >>

Craft Beer Community Reacts to Death of Ash Rowell, Former Owner of Duff Beer Distribution

Ashley "Ash" Rowell -- former owner of Duff Beer Distribution and beloved figure in Houston's craft beer community -- was shot and killed at his Montrose home this past Friday evening. Rowell answered a knock at his door around 7:45 p.m. on Friday and was shot in the doorway. According to the Houst ... More >>

Growlers Beer and Wine Bringing CrafTap System to Montrose Soon

The craft beer community in Houston doesn't let much slip past them. Growlers Beer and Wine owner Doug Bunze found that out late last year when a few eagle eyed craft beer fans tracked down the store's website and Twitter account after he posted a Craigslist ad about job openings at the upcoming cra ... More >>

Let's Get Greasy

The 10 best fried chicken joints in Houston.

Upcoming Events: Downtown Hoppy Hours and Italian Stallions

Everyone loves The Orange Show -- but the non-profit Center for Visionary Art needs your help to keep providing Houston with amazing public art displays like the annual Art Car Parade and concerts at the Orange Show monument itself. To that end, Saint Arnold is sponsoring the 2012 Foamraiser tomorro ... More >>

The Eating...Our Words 100: Bear Dalton, Wine Buyer & Educator, Spec's

Eating...Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn't a Best of Houston list, it's not a 100 Favorites list and it's not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating...Our Words 100 is a way to introduce our read ... More >>

This Week In Food Blogs: Saying Hola to hOla

Dallas Observer: Last week's cover story at our sister paper in Dallas chronicled the resurgence of craft breweries in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. "Free from the hangover of the '90s craft beer bust," writes Lauren Drewes Daniels, "Dallas' small brewers cheer another round of growth." Anyone wh ... More >>

An Under-$30 Delicious American Sparkler Returns to Houston

Houston wine maven and man-about-town Denman Moody loves him some Dr. Frank from the Finger Lakes, New York. He poured and spoke about the winery's dry Riesling when I met him for the first time a few weeks ago in Austin (where he was presenting his new self-published book -- a memoir-cum-guide to ... More >>

How to Ship Wine Legally to Texas

In the wake of my post Wednesday, "Texas Wine Shipping Prohibition Is Morally Indefensible (and Bad for Business)," I wanted to follow up with some tips on how to ship wine legally to Texas. Although it hasn't been updated for more than two years, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission does have a ... More >>

The Battle Hymn of the Beer-public: There's No Room for Snobs in Craft Beer

When Mongoose versus Cobra first opened, one of my favorite things to do was sit outside on a busy Friday night and watch as the following scene played itself out over and over like some version of Groundhog Day with a different pack of confused Midtowners each time: Group of snappily dressed men ... More >>

Sixpoint Brewery Makes Its Mark on Texas

"It was very planned out," said Sixpoint founder Shane Welch of his brewery's recent move into the Texas market. The Brooklyn, New York-based brewery hit Texas this week with an initial offering of five different beers, a number Welch promised would grow in the near future. We had a chance to check ... More >>

Life Before Pinot Grigio: A Favorite Pinot Gris from Oregon

Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio from northern Italy changed everything. I'll never forget the first time I saw a bottle of the wine in a Southern Californian gourmet super market in the 1980s. The bottle was not the classic green but transparent (a stroke of marketing brilliance) and showed off the w ... More >>

Creative Pizza and Crafty Pints at That Pizza Place On Ella

I'll admit that I wouldn't have been quite as drawn to That Pizza Place On Ella -- the subject of this week's cafe review -- were it not for the marquee above, which crows that the pizza joint has the largest beer selection in Oak Forest Larger than Petrol Station? I thought. Surely not. Either way ... More >>

H-E-B Wine and Food Week 2012 Ventures Inside the Loop for First Annual 80 Sips Around the World Event

See our slideshow of photos from Wine and Food Week 2012. This past week, The Woodlands hosted its Wine and Food Week 2012, sponsored by H-E-B. Most of the events, including wine and cheese tastings, multi-course dinners and conversations with winemakers, were held in The Woodlands, with one impor ... More >>

Carls' Jr. Testing New Ice Cream Burger

5 More Frosty Food Fakers

Texas Wines Are Talk of the Town

In the wake of Sunday's Texas wine seminar at the Austin Food & Wine Festival, organized and moderated by Houston wine writer Russ Kane, Texas wines seem to be on everyone's minds this week. Eatocracy (CNN): Food & Wine magazine executive wine editor Ray Isle, a Houston native, was a member of the ... More >>

Loans on Tap: Sam Adams Launches Lending Program

Sam Adams has recently launched "Brewing the Dream," a campaign aimed at providing loans to aspiring food, beverage and hospitality small business start-ups and entrepreneurs. With a goal to both create and save jobs in a tough industry, Sam Adams is looking to provide opportunity for small-time ... More >>

Wine of the Week: A Red That Lasts for Days

After what's your favorite wine?, the question that I get asked the most at wine tastings and seminars is how do you make wine last after you've opened the bottle? My initial answer is drink good wine: Wine with high acidity will last longer once opened; acidity is one of the key elements that give ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Kick It With Kombucha and Go Greek

If you don't like kombucha, I promise that it's only because you haven't tried Kickin Kombucha. I've turned many a hater into a convert with the brew, which just so happens to be made right here in Houston at the Kitchen Incubator downtown. I mention this because Kickin Kombucha is launching a new ... More >>

Wine Whine: Waiter, Please Don't Chill My White Wine (Too Much)!

You can imagine how thrilled I was when I discovered one of my favorite northern Italian white wines on the list the other night at Giacomo's Cibo e Vino on Westheimer: The 2010 Anas-Cëtta (Nascetta) by Cogno for under $40. (The name of this rare grape is Nascetta, pronounced nah-SHEHT-tah. Origina ... More >>

Why We Love to Hate the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission

Image via Westerville Public Libary (Westerville, Ohio).To understand our state's peculiar relationship with alcohol, we need to look back to the early post-Prohibition era when the TABC was founded (1935).​In the wake of a recent post on the absurdity of wine shipping regulation in Texas, a c ... More >>

Odd Pair: What Wine to Pair with Hospital Food?

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.When you're admitted to the hospital to have a baby, you're taken off solid foods. As soon as the baby is born, they bring you a meal to regain your strength. In our case, it was hospital cafeteria meatloaf.​Color me pink! Tracie P and I had a baby on Monday: Georgia P ... More >>

Top 5 Champagnes Under $60 for the Holidays

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.Remember: Champagne doesn't have to be white. Rosé Champagne is often considered the more "muscular" expression of the appellation. Look for Bollinger Rosé, Ruinart Rosé, and our favorite, Billecart Salmon Rosé.​Okay, folks. There's good news and there's bad news. ... More >>

Buffalo Bayou Brewery: A Preview

Photo by Mai PhamCrostini by Ryan Pera​ If you haven't heard about the Buffalo Bayou Brewery, one of the new local craft beer makers in Houston, it's probably because they haven't officially opened yet. But to get the buzz going and to let people know what's coming down the line, they held a ... More >>

Messina Hof Has the Best Wine in Texas, According to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

This year, more than 2,500 wines were entered into the annual Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's International Wine Competition. Of those entries, 736 were from Texas wineries. And of those Texas wineries, Messina Hof swept up 20 medals and the coveted title of Top Texas Wine for its 2004 Solara, whic ... More >>

Wine of the Week: The Aegean Sea in a Glass

The first time I tasted Thalassitis by the Gaia winery (Santorini, Greece), it was poured for me by the "best sommelier in the world 2008," Aldo Sohm, at Le Bernardin in New York City in 2010. Aldo paired the wine with raw sea urchin: The "saltiness" and intense acidity of this wine, he noted, was ... More >>

Wine of the Week: A "No Sulfites Added" Texas Wine

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.Houstonian winemaker Lewis Dickson produces wines with no added sulfites on his estate, La Cruz de Comal, in the Texas Hill Country.​There's good news and there's bad news. First, the bad news. In the wake of last Friday's "myth-debunking" post on sulfites in wine, I ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Biodynamic Lees-Aged Grüner Veltliner

Although Nicolas Joly is widely hailed as the father of biodynamic grape-growing and winemaking in Europe today; the Nikolaihof estate in the Wachau region of Austria is generally considered to be the first biodynamic winery in the world. (The pan-agricultural biodynamic movement was founded by Aust ... More >>

Cultural Feast — Oktoberfest

Brew Blog: Left Coast Una Mas Amber Lager

Confusion is nothing new.​I'll be perfectly honest about this. I picked up a bottle of Left Coast Brewing Co. Una Mas out of simple confusion. Even as I sat down to write this column, bleary-eyed from not enough sleep and still clearing the cobwebs from my brain, I confused myself. I penned an ... More >>

Tuscapalooza: As if You Needed an Excuse to Drink Beer

groovehouseAll-You-Can-Eat crawfish for a cause.​The string of tornados that tore across the Southern states on April 27, 2011 inflicted damage comparable to a category-five hurricane. It killed more 300 people and left thousands more homeless. The impact was especially severe in Tuscaloosa, a ... More >>

Passport Spain Quiz: Answer Some Questions and Win Tickets to a Tasting with a Rockstar Winemaker

​Always wanted to meet and taste with rockstar and heartthrob winemaker Alvaro Palacios (right), one of the "50 most influential people in the wine world" according to Decanter? Well, this is the opportunity you've been waiting for. Houston Cooking School of Central Market's "Passport to Spa ... More >>

Made in Texas: Bourbon Ain't Just from Kentucky Any More

We got whiskey in Texas, pahd'nah!​In this week's cover story, Dallas Observer food critic Hanna Raskin goes inside the world of Texas distilleries to discover that good bourbon can be found in the Lone Star State too. Once reserved for only a handful of bottlers, there has been an explosion ... More >>

Wine(s) of the Week: Duel Napa Valley Chardonnay

​I had a couple bottles of Chardonnay sent to me from different wineries, and noticed they were both within a year's vintage of one another, in the same price range, and both from the Napa Valley. So, why not do a Wine of the Week, "Food Fight" style? It was on like Donkey Kong, only a little ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Tempra Tantrum 2009 Tempranillo /Shiraz Blend

​Another sample courtesy of UnderdogWineMerchant.com, this Spanish wine with a nicely designed, trendy label seems to be part of what the company calls a "Nuevo-Vino" approach to winemaking. I did a little poking around on the winery's website and decided that this wine's being marketed to w ... More >>

Sampler Plate: This Week In Food Blogs

Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Great Food Houston: Our own Ruthie Johnson asks a very timely question over at ... More >>

Brew Blog Interview: Rob Cartwright of Independence Brewing Co.

​Rob Cartwright and his wife Amy started Independence Brewing Co. in an Austin warehouse six years ago. Today the company has nine employees, not counting two dogs. ("They don't have thumbs," he explains, "so they're not on the payroll.") Having been selling well at H-E-B stores in Austin and ... More >>

Foodie Floats

Pass me a brew, won’t you?

The Moonshine's A Harsh Mistress, East Texas (Of Course) Man Learns

Uncle Slaton's got his Texan prideBack in the thickets with his Asian brideHe's got an Airstream trailer and a Holstein cowStill makes whiskey 'cause he still knows how -- James McMurtry, "Chocktaw Bingo" Thanks to an informant's tip, a real-life Uncle Slaton was busted earlier this month in Smith C ... More >>

Jause, the Second Breakfast

​I had some cracklins from Don's Meat Market in Scott, Louisiana and a glass of Independence Pale Ale for jause this morning. The second breakfast, known as "jause" in Austria or zweites frühstück in Germany, is a fine old tradition that I have adopted at my house. Sausage or cold cuts, serv ... More >>

100 Years of Magic

Mickey Mouse pulls out all the stops as Disney celebrates a century of family fun

Heavenly Fries

The b7 frites at Block 7 Wine Company

Obscure Wine Grapes: Huxelrebe

Photo by Robb Walsh​Instead of combining grape juices to make a blend, German viticulturalist Georg Scheu crossed two popular varietals to make a new grape. Huxelrebe is a cross between sweet and aromatic Muscat and the austere Swiss wine grape, Chasselas. Invented in 1927, Huxelrebe was named ... More >>

Eco-Friendly Wine

Web exclusive!

Texas Beer

The Record Ranch Looks at the Dead, While Cactus Music and Video Comes Back from It

Le Fracas Français

Boycott is the only bad taste at Chez Nous

Staying Alive

Reborn, rejuvenated or retooled, live music venues learn to survive the changing times

Expect the Wurst

Schadenfreude